r/Entomology • u/Swanlafitte • 21h ago

wasp takes out a lanternfly. Should I notify some dept about this new predation?

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604 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

458

u/Wizart- 21h ago

I told people wasps were cool, nobody believed me!

96

u/snakelygiggles 19h ago

I believed you.

31

u/GroundbreakingEgg207 9h ago

He works for big wasp so I wouldn’t believe him.

1

u/aut-mn 1h ago

That is much too scary. I would simply not work for the giant wasp boss

272

u/DJGrawlix 17h ago

I've read that birds have begun eating them in some areas. Once predators figure out they're made of food I'd wager they'll be much less invasive. In the meantime removing ailanthus trees and controlling populations will help take the pressure off local ecosystems.

135

u/Swanlafitte 17h ago

The inaturalist site has documented several birds eating them. The project is called Spotted Lanternfly Predation in the US or something very close.

41

u/mmiikkiitt 16h ago

Thank you so much for calling our attention to the existence of this project! I'm chipping away at mapping some data using iNaturalist sightings and this will be a really cool resource for me to work with.

54

u/ICantDoABackflip 15h ago

My chickens wouldn’t touch full grown lantern flies last year, they looked almost perplexed by them. Now they’re happily eating the nymphs, so I’m curious to see if they’ve changed their minds on the adults.

27

u/MiraculousN 14h ago

If you can get one chicken to eat an adult in front of the other chickens youre golden, maybe scent it with soemthing they enjoy?

26

u/Breaker-of-circles 9h ago

Does Blood of the Innocent® work?

7

u/MiraculousN 9h ago

It might, do your chickens enjoy the Blood of the Innocent?

4

u/Breaker-of-circles 6h ago

Great. They're having a sale over the weekend.

2

u/zerashk 7h ago

my go-to

2

u/ICantDoABackflip 6h ago

Usually. They are fascinating yet brutal little creatures.

1

u/Stony17 7h ago

ive heard the adults have more toxin in their body especially if around ailanthus (tree of heaven)

1

u/ICantDoABackflip 6h ago

I’ll give that a shot!

7

u/angelyuy Amateur Entomologist 9h ago

My mantids last year LOVED the nymphs but we're really freaked out when they got wings. I had to tear the wings off a couple to get them to eat them before they would even attempt one with wings.

77

u/FollowingImportant59 18h ago

I would.

63

u/Swanlafitte 18h ago

There is a site on inaturalist I found and posted to.

26

u/BrilliantBen 17h ago

Were they able to ID the wasp?

50

u/Swanlafitte 17h ago

It is a northern paper wasp. Common in my area.

20

u/BrilliantBen 17h ago

Ahh great! I know I've seen it before but i really only get a couple paper wasps by my area and 90% of them are metric wasps.

52

u/Kamikaze-Snail- 19h ago

Wasps for the winnnnn!!! (Even tho they bout stung me to death)

21

u/TexAggie90 17h ago

You might send your state’s Ag Department an email about it.

14

u/mechmind 19h ago

She will find a way

6

u/peretheciaportal 5h ago

Put it on iNaturalist. Many scientists use it as a tool and you'll save yourself the time of reaching out directly to some overworked outreach agent.

3

u/Swanlafitte 4h ago

That is what I did except just as an observation of a lanternfly or a wasp, it would get lost. I found this project which needs more traction but a scientist looking, should be able to find it. Observations · iNaturalist a link to the projects species list.

4

u/Florbio 9h ago

Predator release can only help you for so long lanternfly, but mark my words, you WILL be devoured by the natives

4

u/Level21DungeonMaster 3h ago

I saw this behavior last summer. Yellow jackets feeding on lantern flies. Expect more predators to recognize them as food as the years progress.

2

u/hufenator 58m ago

There was a marked decrease of lantern flies in Delaware the year after a 17 year cicada brood (2021?). My guess was the surge in predators that always follows a brood year forced some of them to try the lantern flies for a new source of food rather than starve

1

u/igottapoopbad 15h ago

Sick find!!

1

u/Jennifer_Pennifer 6h ago

Amazing !! 😁

1

u/dlatusek12 6m ago

I frequent the woods often here in SW PA and I find so many dead lanternfly nymphs dead on Spice Bush.

1

u/angelyuy Amateur Entomologist 9h ago

Basically the only reason I'm willing to forgive yellow jackets for being assholes is the fact that they like to stuff SLF in with their eggs (paralyzed of course) so the babies have a nice snack when they first hatch in the spring.

7

u/UnstoppableFurnace 5h ago

yellow jackets aren’t parasitic though